How Can Roadside Assistance (RSA) CoverKeep You and Your Car Safe During Night?

Consider a scenario: You embark on a long night drive with your spouse. Only a few kilometers have been covered, when it starts pouring heavily. While you are busy in cursing the rain for reducing your visibility, one more problem arises to disrupt your journey—your car breaks down. Now with your limited knowledge about vehicles and no help around, you are stranded in the rain!

Do you know, between 21 and 22 July 2017around 30 cars punctured on the Pune-Mumbai expressway due to relentless rain?

Just imagine the difficulty that you endure in finding help or repair centre if your car breaks down during the day time!The situation becomes more panicking if it happens during the night.In such a case, roadside assistance cover available with your car insurance policy can be your saviour.

Here are some of the services which you can enjoy with your roadside assistance cover=

Flat Tyres= Even if your tyres are in good condition, thanks to our road conditions, flat tyre can happen at any point. With roadside cover, the flat tyre will be replaced with the spare if it is in a workable state.

Towing Services= Whether you are involved in an accident, or your car breaks down, the insurer will offer you a towing service so that your vehicle can be taken to the nearest garage for repairs.

Fuel= Run out of gas? There is no need to fret as the emergency fuel is also the part of a roadside assistance cover.

Battery jump-start= If your vehicle’s engine has stopped working and you think it is due to faulty battery, call your roadside assistance representative who would send a technician to jump-start your car’s battery to bring it on the road.

Arrangement of spare keys= Have you locked yourself out of your car and now you don’t want to call your spouse or family members for a spare key? On record, I will say that you should call your spouse, but in a situation where you can’t, call roadside assistance service provider who will arrange for a spare key.

Along with the above, there are services like breakdown support over the phone, taxi support, hotel accommodation, message relay to family or friends, etc.; which you can avail with a roadside assistance program.

While most of the services are offered at free of cost, you would have to pay the fuel cost in case of fuel refilling by the insurer.

The roadside assistance cover offered with a car insurance policy is of utmost importance in India, considering the dismal road conditions, inexperienced and aggressive drivers, and the high probability of water logging during monsoon.

Should I Buy Roadside Assistance Cover with My Car Insurance Policy?

The answer can depend on the following parameters=

Age of vehicle= If you have a brand-new car, there are fewer chances of its breakdown.Also, your carmanufacturermight be offering you a roadside assistance cover for the first few years or certain thousands of miles, whichever milestone is achieved If this is the case, you can go without roadside assistance cover.

Commuting distance= If your daily commuting is within a small radius of where you live, then you might be close to a car repairing centre of your town where you can call to get help. However, if you daily commute long distances or take weekend jaunts to unfamiliar places, it makes sense to go with a roadside assistance cover.

Convenience= If you are the one who gives high importance to convenience, it might be good to buy roadside assistance Every service offered under this program would save you from the trouble of finding and contacting the repair centre.

Many people would find a roadside assistance program an unappreciated service considering the fact that our smart phones and tablets are there to find agarage in a real time. However, you’ll not be as efficient at locating a repair centre as the car insurance company would be able to do. Moreover, what if your phone runs out of battery at night during the middle of the road? You would only need to make one call to your car insurer who would take care of everything. In fact, the car insurance company can also help you in communicating with your friends or family so that you can tell them about your whereabouts.

A roadside assistance cover, offered by car insurance companies, becomes important when you are stranded on the road at night, and no one is nearby for your help. It proves more useful during monsoon when waterlogging is a common problem, and your car could be struck in water.

Further, roadside assistance program can prove to be highly useful for women drivers and senior citizens who travel alone during the night. They don’t need to make an effort in finding the ‘right’ help as one call to their car insurance can take of all their worries.

By paying a small amount, you get complete peace of mind and surety that some help would come your way irrespective of where you are. I don’t think; it is a bad idea, do you?